Welcome to Part 3 of our Web Traffic Blueprint article series, where we show you how to create an automated web traffic generation machine using the WordPress CMS.
In Part 1 of this article series, we explained why using an expertly configured WordPress website is the key to generating automated traffic …
(With an expertly configured WordPress website or blog, all you have to do is post web content on a consistent basis to generate more web traffic!)
In Part Two, we looked at the setup phase. We helped you understand the best way to start if you don’t have a website yet, how to set things up if you already have a site, and what to do if your site was built with WordPress.
(In Part 2 we show you how to set up a WordPress web site on your domain)
In this article, we will look at the configuration phase of the traffic blueprint. The focus of this section is to help you understand why an expertly configured WordPress site is different. You will also discover just what kind of work needs to be done to make sure that when all is fully set up and configured, you will get traffic automatically as you begin posting fresh content to your web site.
WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Configuration
Finding ways to drive more traffic to one’s website is often cited by business owners as one of their greatest challenges online. Businesses are becoming so much more competitive worldwide and are exploring any and every advantage they can to improve their results online.
The ability to automatically generate traffic on demand can be a tremendous advantage over other competitors. Having an expertly configured website gives your business an immediate advantage from the very beginning.
The Configuration Phase Is The Difference
There is a significant difference between an expertly configured WordPress site and a site that has been professionally set up by a website-building expert but not necessarily configured to its fullest advantage.
Here’s a simple way to describe the key difference:
With a WordPress site that has been expertly configured you get a web presence and an automated online business marketing tool!
(An expertly configured website gives you a professional web presence with an automated online business marketing process!)
Not only are more steps required to build and integrate an automated online business marketing system into your website, it also takes a special type of expertise.
Let’s illustrate this with a joke.
A True Story (Kind Of) …
Everything was going fine in the widget-making workshop when all machinery suddenly stopped.
As no one could figure out what happened, the manager decided to call in an expert.
Soon afterwards, the expert arrived and, without saying a word, immediately headed to the main control box. After staring at the board for no more than 3 minutes, the expert then took out a teeny-weeny hammer from his shirt pocket and made a very gentle tap about one inch from the right edge of the box.
Immediately, everything sprang to life once more.
The manager was grateful and relieved as he thanked the expert, who left as quickly as he had arrived.
A few days after resolving the incident, the factory manager received an invoice for the amount of $5,000.
The manager called the expert, demanding to know why they were being charged such an exorbitant fee for so little time spent delivering such minimal amount of work and then requested an itemized invoice before hanging up.
The next day, a bill of payment arrived and was placed in the manager’s in-tray. Upon opening the envelope, this is what he saw:
The number one challenge most businesses face online is being able to drive visitors consistently to their sites.
In the story we’ve just described, how much money did the widget plant stand to lose when production ground to a halt and no one in the factory floor had the expertise to fix it? Did the expert not have every right to demand fair compensation for years spent building up the knowledge, skills and expertise that enabled him to quickly assess and fix a very costly problem?
Similarly, if you could have your WP web site configured so all you have to do is publish content to it and search engines, social followers from Facebook and LinkedIn and dozens of other web properties would be immediately notified, how much time and money would this save you?
(How much time and money would you save if you could automate the process of driving traffic to your website?)
While the solution to many challenges may seem quite easy once it’s been implemented, it rarely turns out to be that way.
Expertly configuring a WordPress site is more than adding some pages with content and configuring some basic settings. It also requires knowing where to tap! This includes knowing things such as:
- Which programs you need to install to get desired functionalities on your site.
- Which 3rd-party accounts you need to set up to get desired outcomes
- Which internal and external settings you need to configure in order to make sure everything works how you expect, etc.
(Generating traffic automatically with WordPress is a process that requires expertise)
This stage of the traffic automation system is not technically difficult, but it’s quite complicated. This is because it’s not just about installing a plugin, clicking on a button or two, or tweaking some settings in your dashboard area … it’s all of this and so much more.
The configuration phase is a process that involves your web server, your website, and various third-party sites and services …
(Expertly configuring your website involves more than just configuring some WordPress settings)
If all the steps involved in the configuration process were to be flowcharted, it would look something like this …
(A simplistic diagram showing the steps involved in the configuration process)
Let’s take a look at these areas in more detail.
Your Web Server
We’re not talking about the process of configuring your hosting account for website installation purposes (this should have been done during the Setup phase). What we are talking about, is tweaking settings in your web server that affect how your site will handle web traffic …
(In the configuration phase, your web server settings need to be checked for handling both good and bad traffic)
Not all traffic is welcome traffic. Some of the web traffic your site will attract will be unwelcome traffic like spam, security threats, bot-hacking attempts, etc.
This aspect of the configuration process, therefore, is all about planning for both good and unwanted traffic and then adjusting settings in your server accordingly. This could include things like integrating server-level spam protection and preventing security threats, to configuring your domain and email forwarding, etc …
(Have you configured your webhosting settings for handling things like email forwarding, page errors, etc?)
Once your web server settings have been fine-tuned and configured, the next step of the configuration phase is to set up a number of external sites and services.
External Sites And Services – Configuration
The basic idea of setting up external sites is that all content is published from a central location (your WordPress site) and from there, it gets distributed automatically to other components of your traffic generation system, or notify traffic-related web properties and applications.
After adding these external sites to your configuration, content linked back to your website is automatically fed to search, social and aggregator sites. Your content and business will then receive exposure online, helping you tap into a whole new audience and source of traffic.
Some of these third-party web properties and online services will need to be set up before configuring your WordPress site’s settings to speed up the process and some will need to be done later, during the automation phase.
For example, here are just some of the accounts you will need to have set up:
Google Search Console
(Google Search Console – create a Google-friendly site)
Google Search Console lets you tell Google about your site’s pages, submit XML sitemaps for faster page indexing, and provides site owners with important data, SEO tools, and reports about their website.
Once your account and site details with Google Search Console are set up, this information can be used to integrate and automate web traffic-related settings and notifications in WordPress using plugins like Yoast SEO (see further below) and other applications.
Google Analytics
(Google Analytics)
Google Analytics lets you improve your website’s performance, SEO, marketing efforts, and more, by tracking all user behavior, pages visited, keywords searched for, search engine referrals, etc.
After setting up your up your account and entered your site details, you can add your account information to WordPress via a plugin and send data automatically to other useful applications.
Bing Data And Tools
(Drive more traffic with Bing Webmaster Tools)
Bing Webmaster Tools is similar to Google Webmasters. Once your Bing Webmaster Tools account and site data are set up, you can use this information to automate web traffic settings and notifications in WordPress (e.g. using plugins like Yoast SEO – see further below) and other applications.
WordPress.com
(WordPress.com)
As discussed in Part 2, WordPress offers both the option of a hosted vs self-hosted website. We recommended choosing the self-hosted WordPress platform if you plan to build a professional business presence online.
WordPress.com (the hosted option), however, provides some great features, which various WordPress plugins can access. We recommend setting up an account with WordPress.com, therefore, and we’ll explain how to integrate this into your automated web traffic generation system in the next installment of this article series.
Social Media And Social Bookmarking Sites
(Syndicate your content automatically to your social media accounts and bring new visitors to your site)
You will need to set up your social accounts in order to integrate these with your traffic generation system.
Once you have set up and configured everything, you will be able to syndicate your content automatically to your social media accounts and drive new visitors to your site.
Make sure you have set up accounts and profile pages with all of the well-known social networks – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.
There are loads of social bookmarking sites you can set up and syndicate your content to. You don’t need to create accounts with all of them, just pick the ones that will work with your setup and/or content sharing tools (we will look at some of these tools in more detail in the Automation phase).
(There are lots of social sites you can syndicate your content to. Image: ShareThis.com)
Additional Solutions, RSS Aggregators, Etc.
There are many new online web platforms and RSS aggregators that can serve as secondary sources of traffic. Some are free or provide free plans, and some are more suitable for enterprise-level applications.
For example, here is a content aggregator site that lets you add a feed from your site …
RebelMouse
(RebelMouse – Publishing platform for distributed content)
RebelMouse is an aggregator for your social profiles and RSS feeds. Your content displays in a Pinterest-like format and visitors can follow your page.
There are many different solutions you can incorporate into your own web traffic blueprint. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance exploring some of these, or to discuss a strategy to suit your needs.
Once you have configured your web server and set up accounts with external sites, it’s time to configure your site.
Configuring WordPress For Traffic
The first step in configuring your WordPress site for traffic is to ensure that its global settings have been set up correctly.
Let’s go over some of the important areas.
Global WordPress Settings
By default, all WordPress installations include a Settings section that allows you to modify your site’s global settings …
(WordPress settings menu)
General Settings
Content entered into fields like Site Title and Tagline can affect your site’s SEO, search listings, etc …
(Global Settings – General Settings)
Writing Settings
The Writing Settings area contains an important and frequently overlooked built-in traffic notification system …
(Settings Menu – Writing Settings)
As stated in the Update Services section,
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services …
Unless you or your webmaster have specifically configured your settings to prevent search engines from indexing your site, then your site will automatically notify the services entered into the Update Services field
By default, when WordPress is installed, only one service is listed …
(Update Services – A Powerful Traffic Feature)
You can notify dozens of update services automatically with WordPress …
(WordPress lets you notify dozens of update services automatically!)
Download A Comprehensive List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site!
Click the link below to download a comprehensive list of reliable and authoritative ping services for your WordPress site or blog:
Download A List Of Ping Services For Your WordPress Site
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Note: If you need help setting up the list of ping services on your site, we recommend using a professional web services provider. You can find professional WordPress service providers in our WordPress Services Directory.
Reading
This section affects how your content gets seen by visitors when they visit your home page and blog pages.
The syndication settings in this section can have an influence traffic. For example, your choice to display the full content vs summaries of your post, affects how your content displays in RSS feeds and blog post digests, and could affect someone’s decision to explore your site further, and whether or not they will visit your website or blog to view the rest of the content from summaries, or read the content in full without the need to click through to your site.
The most important setting here as far as traffic is concerned is whether the Search Engine Visibility checkbox is ticked or not.
Normally, you want to encourage search engines to visit your site. Leaving the box unchecked enables WordPress to instantly notify all the update services you have specified in the Update Services field whenever new posts get published (see Writing Settings above). Unless you have a specific reason to discourage search indexing spiders from visiting your site, make sure this box is left unticked …
(Global Settings – Reading Settings Section)
Discussion
Although this section is mostly concerned with how users engage with content on your site, you have the option to allow notifications to blogs linked to from your posts, and to allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks). This can work for you, but it can also drive bad traffic in the form of SPAM comments …
(Global Settings – Discussion Settings)
Permalink Settings
Your Permalink settings allow you to create search engine-friendly URLs …
(WordPress Settings – Permalink Settings Screen)
The examples below show some of the options for configuring your site’s permalink URLs …
(Configuring SEO-friendly URLs)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up WordPress permalinks, go here: Setting Up Your WordPress Permalinks
WordPress – Plugin Settings
WordPress provides users with thousands of plugins that can add just about every kind of functionality imaginable to your website, including plugins that add traffic generation capabilities.
Here are some types of plugin categories that affect traffic and plugin examples
Blog Defender Security Plugin
Once again, it’s important to configure your website for dealing with the effects of both good traffic and bad traffic. No website is completely safe from cyber attacks.
(WordPress Security Plugins help prevent bad traffic from harming your web presence)
Security plugins like Blog Defender help to make your WordPress blog invisible to hackers and bots.
More info:
WordPress SEO Plugins – Yoast SEO
SEO plugins help drive traffic by making your site more search engine friendly …
(WordPress SEO plugins help drive traffic by improving the search engine friendliness of your website)
A plugin like Yoast SEO can significantly improve your SEO. Properly configured, this plugin not only makes your site easier for search engines to find and index, it also lets you specify how to present your content in Google’s search results and social media sites Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
WordPress Social Plugins
Allowing your visitors to easily share your content with others can help to increase traffic to your site, especially if you publish great content that adds value to readers.
(WordPress users can easily add social features to their website using free or inexpensive plugins)
There are loads of free or inexpensive social sharing plugins available for WordPress users.
Most social plugins allow you to specify which sites your content can be shared to, embed social buttons into your content, set up default post messages, display/hide share counters (e.g. number of likes), etc. Some social share plugins even allow you to protect content which users can unlock by liking your page.
WordPress Themes
As well as configuring various plugins, many WordPress themes also include features that can help grow your traffic.
For example, in addition to options and settings for configuring layout and design aspects of your website, some themes also include built-in features that let you improve search optimization and site navigation structure for better indexing, easily add tracking snippets, social sharing buttons, etc …
(Many WordPress themes come with built-in traffic optimization features)
With many themes, adding social sharing buttons and features to your pages is as easy as clicking a few buttons to enable the feature …
(Many WordPress themes provide built-in social sharing features that can be easily turned on with the click of a button)
WordPress Traffic Configuration – Other Areas To Consider
Last (but by no means least) in the web traffic system configuration process, are the components that need to be configured outside of the global settings.
This includes the following:
Legal Pages
Once again, when preparing your site for an increase in traffic numbers, it’s important to plan not only for how to deal with good and bad traffic but also for all the situations that can hurt your business when more and more people find and begin to visit your website.
If you make money online (or are planning to), it’s important that your website remains compliant with regulatory agencies.
(Does Your Site Comply With The Law?)
To learn more about how to quickly add all necessary legal pages to your WordPress website or blog, go here:
Post Tags & Post Categories
Post tags and post categories help improve traffic by allowing search engines to better organize and index your pages.
(Post categories help search engines index your website, which helps to increase traffic.)
As we recommend in this article, it’s best to discuss and set up your site’s post categories and tags during the Website Planning Phase.
When configuring your website or blog to automate and improve traffic, you will want to review and make sure that your site’s post tags and post categories have been set up correctly to deliver optimal results.
Add A Site Map To Your WordPress Site
A visitor site map that lists all of your pages and posts is not only a useful navigation tool, it can also help external sites discover your website content …
(A site map is not just great for visitors, but for traffic too!)
An HTML site map and an XML sitemap are not the same thing. Only search engine bots can understand XML sitemaps. Although search engines like Google can index your pages just from an XML sitemap (which a plugin like Yoast SEO can provide – see earlier section), allowing visitors to find more pages on your site can result in increased traffic.
404 Page – Don’t Lose Traffic!
When online visitors enter the wrong web address into their web browser or click on hyperlinks pointing to an incorrect destination on your site, they are greeted with an error – page not found message (known as a 404 error page) …
(A 404 Not Found error page)
Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to redirect web traffic that may otherwise be lost. …
(Configuring your 404 Error Page allows you to recover web traffic that may otherwise be lost.)
Although a 404 page can be set up in your web server, there are WordPress plugins that let you easily configure your 404 page inside your WordPress admin area.
WordPress Traffic Automation System: Configuration Stage – Summary
Once you have your WordPress site expertly configured and fully set up, all you need to do then is publish content on a consistent basis to automatically bring traffic organically.
The process of expertly configuring your WordPress site, however, can be quite involved and requires the configuration and integration of various elements and web properties …
(Traffic System – Configuration Checklist)
The expertise involved in expertly configuring a WordPress site typically takes some web professionals a long time to learn.
Once you have configured your WordPress site, the next step is to automate the aspects of the process that can be automated. This step is addressed in the next article in the series.
This is the end of Part 3
To continue reading about this topic, click on the link below:
This article is part of a comprehensive tutorial series aimed at helping website owners learn how to grow their business online cost-effectively and drive traffic sustainably with a WordPress website and proven web marketing strategies.
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